Publications
The Continuum: Cistercian’s bi-annual magazine for family, friends and alumni of Cistercian
When The Continuum was first published as the newsletter for Cistercian alumni, the editors wanted to indicate by the title that continuity links the life of a student with his life after Cistercian. Alumni were still interested in the school, its faculty and its programs, and they wanted to keep up with the lives of their fellow alums. Every student was marked forever by the people they knew at Cistercian.
Today, the need for connection has grown. We want to connect the school’s current families and students with Cistercian students who have already graduated and their families. Likewise, we want alumni to maintain ties, not only with their former teachers and classmates, but also with the new generation of devoted Cistercian faculty and students.
As with all relationships, we must work at preserving and building the bond. We can lose touch with even our dearest friends when we no longer share activities, interests, concerns, and goals. Alumni go to their various colleges, pursue their chosen degrees and professions, and raise their own families. Families once so close because they chaperoned a party together after a football game or cheered the Hawks on during a basketball game can find themselves searching for the occasion to keep friendships going once their sons graduate from Cistercian. The Continuum, we hope, will be one such ‘occasion’ for the entire Cistercian family.
Visit the Continuum Archives to read more.
Reflections
Cistercian’s award-winning literary magazine is produced by a club of students who are passionate about creative expression. This extra-curricular group meets twice a week to gather creative projects from the entire school—from the imaginative tales and drawings of Middle Schoolers to the sophisticated poetry and artwork of upperclassmen. Our tradition is to encourage every student to submit work for publication in Reflections, and every student gets a copy of the printed magazine in August. This year, however, we’re starting a new tradition: posting a digital copy of the magazine online.
For our graduating seniors who might otherwise miss seeing their literary or artistic talents showcased, and for any student who may want to share a published story with distant relatives, we hope you enjoy this online version of Reflections.
A Word to Enkindle
The plea of an atheist for biblical beauty
The Polish poet Czeslaw Milosz, winner of the Nobel Prize for literature in 1980, declared in a book of prose that “the Scriptures constitute the common good of believers, agnostics, and atheists.” For Milosz, whose life was scarred by the Nazi and Communist takeovers of his native land, the moral authority and literary beauty of the Bible was a refuge against the lethal and banal propaganda spewed forth from those godless governments and armies, even though he could not bring himself to believe in God.
Wilderness and the Dynamics of Conversion
This Lent I’m studying the “wilderness” or “desert” in Scripture, and especially in the journey of Israel from Egypt to the Promised Land. The dangerous wild is a powerful image for the spiritual life, and it plays a large part in the lives of figures like Jacob, Moses, David, Elijah, John the Baptist and Jesus. What about in yours?
Exile and home in the human condition
A curious pattern of exile is evident in the endings of several Old Testament books. After God promises Abram the land of Canaan, the patriarch must immediately flee to Egypt because of a famine (Genesis 12); his descendants, the sons of Jacob, repeat the expedition for the same reason (Genesis 42-47). The final word of Genesis, “Egypt,” ominously foreshadows the drama of slavery and liberation narrated in the second biblical book. The conclusion of Deuteronomy features Moses dying before he can lead the Israelites across the Jordan River (Deuteronomy 34:1-12). The Pentateuch, therefore, finishes with the Israelites, having sojourned for 40 years as the entire generation who left Egypt perishes in the wilderness, outside the land.
The expanding heart that casts out fear
St. Benedict concludes the Prologue of his Rule for monks with an uplifting exhortation: “Do not be daunted immediately by fear and run away from the road that leads to salvation. It is bound to be narrow at the outset. But as we progress in this way of life and in faith, we shall run on the path of God’s commandments, our hearts expanding with the inexpressible delight of love.” For Benedict, the monastic life is a school in which the monks, who graduate only at death, never cease learning how to love the Lord. The relentless rigors of work and prayer stretch the heart, pushing it outward and generating an ever-greater capacity to love and be loved.
Renewing the joyful gift of Catholic schools
Catholic Schools Week (Jan. 30 to Feb. 5 this year) is a time to reflect on the gift of Catholic education and to support the many men and women who work so hard to offer that education to children throughout the world.
Awaken the sleeping Lord in your boat!
Near the end of March 2020, the peoples of virtually all nations were enduring the first of many months of enforced isolation and the specter of sickness caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. At that precise moment, Pope Francis organized a worldwide hour of adoration, and offered the suffering faithful a sorely needed word of hope.
On synodality and the ‘listening church’
On synodality and the ‘listening church’ by Fr. John for The Texas Catholic. You’ve likely heard that Bishop Burns called for a diocesan synod. You’ve probably also heard that Pope Francis called for the Church to reflect on “synodality” as the very “path … which God...
Remember your dignity as Advent begins
"Remember your dignity as Advent begins" by Fr. Thomas for Texas Catholic. Greek philosophers centuries before Christ acknowledged the immense mystery of our being human. Man, they said, is a microcosm, a condensed universe, containing in himself the vast expanse of...
Evaluating Globalization with St. Benedict
"Evaluating Globalization with St. Benedict" by Fr. John for The Texas Catholic. One of the hot topics in political discourse today is globalization – that is, the tendency for the world population to become more integrated, or at least more technologically connected....
The Sabbath Rest is for you, not God
"The Sabbath Rest is for you, not God" by Fr. Thomas for Texas Catholic. “On the seventh day, God completed the work He had been doing; He rested on the seventh day from all the work He had undertaken. God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it He...